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Frank McCourt vs. MLB: Stamina and patience of Job required

That’s my greatest fear now. I’ll wake up out of a cold sweat on some winter night in 2016 unable to get Frank McCourt’s latest appeal, filing, legal maneuver out of mind.

It’s war of endurance, to beat the other into submission by paperwork and legal briefs. Every time you think just maybe there is a flicker at the end of this labyrinth of a tunnel, there comes another motion and darkness descends again.

Common sense must rule at some point, but that feels like a tough sell right now.

Just when it appears both sides have played their major cards and a showdown and resolution could be on the horizon, here come more appeals and motions and finger-pointing.

McCourt’s latest filing argues that the individual great seasons of Clayton Kershaw and Matt Kemp, and the fact that the Dodgers are going to finish over .500, are evidence "that [the Dodgers are] acting in anything but in the best interests of the Dodgers or of baseball more generally.’’

This comes from the same people, who on the day the Dodgers filed for bankruptcy and happened to beat the Twins 15-0 actually said: "I think this convincingly disproves the argument bankruptcy is bad for baseball."

The head hurts. Of course, the Dodgers still want the court to hear their request to sell their TV rights package on Oct. 12. When there’s only one lifeboat left afloat, you cling to that baby.

If it’s a war of attrition, I like MLB’s chances better that McCourt’s. Pretty sure it has the deeper pockets. As opposed to no pockets.

One of the crazier aspects to all of this is -- at least currently -- MLB is paying for McCourt’s legal battle against MLB through the $150 million it loaned the Dodgers. Of course, if MLB wins and McCourt is forced to sell, the loan would come off the top. And if the court upholds MLB’s rules, McCourt could be forced to pay baseball back its legal fees for suing the commissioner, which the rules say is a no-no.

Now you and I can get worn down by all of this, but it’s MLB that has to persevere. Everyone wants resolution. Some, even before the apocalypse.